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Daughters of Promise

Who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been His counselor? Romans 11:34

“I am the Lord and there is none other,” God would tell His children repeatedly. Why? Because they were not small enough. Their disobedience and worship of other gods exposed their arrogance. They had decided who was worthy of their worship, whom they would honor and obey. The God of the universe got the short end of the stick. Oh, how man elevates himself and how absolutely ludicrous.

William Beebe was a biologist, explorer, and author, and he was also a personal friend of Theodore Roosevelt. He used to visit Roosevelt at Sagamore Hill, his home near Oyster Bay, Long Island. He tells of a little game they used to play together. After an evening of talk, they would go outside onto the lawn and search the sky until they found the faint spot of light beyond the lower left corner of the great square of Pegasus. One of them would recite: “That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda. It is as large as the Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.” Then Roosevelt would grin at Beebe and say, “Now I think we are small enough! Let’s go to bed.”

If there is an issue about which I’ve decided not to obey, I am not small enough. If I tell God He is shortsighted, I am not small enough. If I tell God that He doesn’t rule well and life will never be fair, I am not small enough. If I feel qualified, in any way, to make a judgment against God, I am not small enough. I am not even a grain of sand in the vast universe. He, who could move the Himalayan mountain range with a word, is the very one I accuse? No, I am not small enough.

The point for me is this ~ He is large enough but do I acknowledge it? Do I see myself small in comparison? Only then will I be humble. Only then will I feel safe. Only then will I trust sovereign grace in the midst of agonizing circumstances.

Job was troubled to the point of wishing he’d never been born but as soon as God reviewed His large-ness and asked Job a question about his small-ness, was Job’s heart comforted. “Where were you when I hung the stars?” At that point, Job dared trust that his great trials had divine purpose. His childlike submission to God was well-placed. Now, we know the rest of the story. One day, our well-placed trust will also have divine perspective. My small faith is not blind. It has a history and a future.

I am small, oh, but You are not. You are infinitely tender with ‘small’. I have never been safer. Amen